Deputy wants children to study languages at GCSE

Deputy Montfort Tadier said being able to speak more than one language was standard practice in other countries

A Jersey deputy wants children to study at least one foreign language at GCSE.

Deputy Montfort Tadier said he was concerned that the number of pupils with one or more modern language GCSE had fallen by 10% in the last three years.

In 2018, 66.2% of all of secondary school pupils gained one or more result in modern languages, which dropped to 55.5% in 2022.

Eleanor Clarke studied French at University and now works in Paris. She said learning a language helped to build personal relationships as well as practical skills.

She said: "It helps with problem solving, it helps with jobs and on the international level, the students in France for example, they have to study at least two other languages for the Baccalaureate.

"Just having an edge when it comes to careers internationally it's really great but it's also just having a kind of that feeling that you can connect with so many more people when you're abroad and not just assume that everyone else is going to be able to speak English."

Mr Tadier said being able to speak more than one language was standard practice in other countries.

He said: "Most people in the world will speak at least two languages and because of that their brains operate differently and they see the world differently, and they'll have skills that monolingual people don't have access to."